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‘High bride price has left me unable to find a wife’


Twice, he was close to getting married to two different women, until demands for a hefty bride price put them asunder.

In both cases, Mr Brian Wanny, 29, had found serious partners who had even introduced him to their respective families – the first in 2017 and the next in 2020.

But the bachelor somehow found himself reversing his decision to settle down because the dowry the families were demanding was too high.

“I have taken my friends to meet the girls’ families, but the amount of money they ask for is over the roof. I am ready to move forward, I am not yet established, that’s why I am scared, because of the money that they want,” Mr Wanny said.

In 2015, Mr Wanny, a high school librarian, thought he had met the love of his life and was ready to marry her after two years of courting. He visited his girlfriend’s home to get to know the parents. Little did he know, a ‘baraza’ was waiting for him.

“I met her, she was a very beautiful girl, and luckily, she was working as a teacher in my neighbourhood, so we met often and we were inseparable, until I met her parents and they asked me to pay Sh500,000,” he said.

“I was shocked, they listed a whole lot of things, that she has a career, she has both a diploma and a degree so it came with a cost, and because she is a lady that has not given birth at home, her parents said she is ‘pure’,”

But he didn’t give up. He tried to find the money but because he is the firstborn in his family, he “had too many responsibilities, so I couldn’t afford it”.

“I talked to the girl but the pressure from her parents was too much and she started holding back a little, and slowly but slowly she cut contact with me. I was frustrated but what can a man do, move on, and I am good-looking,” he continued.

After a year of heartbreak, Mr Wanny decided to move on and swore to never fall in love again, until he met another woman from the coastal region.

He describes her as a beauty dropped from heaven. He persuaded her and knew he did not just want to date but also settle down and have a family.

“I met her in 2019. I explained to her about my past and she wanted to settle down as well, which was a big relief. In 2020, I met her parents, not for dowry negotiation but just for an introduction of sorts,” he said.

“They were happy to receive me but when we sat down with the father, he started asking me about my plans. Since I did not want to look like a desperate person, I asked them how they would want the dowry, but both wanted money.”

They asked him about how he made his living (he was still working as a librarian) and how well-off his family was.

It did not work out. He remains single.

Read the full story here.